New lease for old theater approved

A lease was approved by the city council in Coulee Dam last week so that a couple who moved to town again last August can re-imagine what was the Village Cinema into something new.

Ben and Naomi Dupris were set to sign the lease Wednesday.

The couple envision an art-centered community space for all ages, one that will honor Ben's memory of, and hope for, the community he grew up in, meet the needs of its people today, and embody a business model emerging for such spaces.

Ben is a 1992 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High, but he's been working in the entertainment industry for 30 years, as a photography director most recently. His late father had a bicycle repair business in the area. His mother the chief justice at the Colville Tribal Court.

At the Grand Coulee Dam Area Rotary Club meeting April 8, the two handed out a one-page bullet-point presentation of their vision for the "Coulee Art House" project.

"The Vision" is presented in two sentences:

"The Coulee Art House (at the former Village Cinema) is a community-driven initiative dedicated to providing a safe, creative sanctuary for the youth and families of the Grand Coulee area. By blending cinematic arts, sports broadcasting, and youth-focused creative programming, we are reviving a local landmark to serve as a cornerstone for cultural and social engagement."

That's a good summary in 58 words, but Ben fleshed it out for the Rotary club. They'll put in a nice sound system, movable gallery walls, performances, poetry readings, a place to get a glass of water and cool off, do your homework with free WIFI, take a class in something occasionally.

"So building it out as a space that continues to serve the community as a hub for culture and gathering and also be a safe space for young people." That could include integrating traditional, healthy foods, cinematic experience, drone operation classes.

"But what we're really excited about is creating a little bit more of a buzz around an arts district energy," he said.

That could include a becoming an extension of the museum that is the nearby bridge over the Columbia River, saving bits of the Coulee House motel currently being demolished.

"You know, there's a lot of history in our communities, both around ... things that might not be on a museum wall, but it should be on somebody's wall, and ... it'll be on ours."

Some snacks will be involved, and movies, cartoons, free stuff, that will keep people interested in hanging out there as they are able to buy a lemonade or healthy snack.

This is where the theater part comes in.

Naomi explained that in today's world, kids watch web movies and cartoons, that many people reading this will have never seen. They're not on TV. But theaters can stream them to provide a cultural gathering experience, just like movies have been, but for a growing niche market.

That market exists in Moses Lake, and it exists here, said the mother of three children. Ben said a type of license to play streaming content is available and they intend to obtain one.

"We sell popcorn and stuff like that, right? But Gone are the days where an actual film place or cinema can survive that way," Ben said. "It's just the expenses are too high. People don't want to see a movie. They want to watch 10 in a row."

And they might watch them from a couch or a massage chair.

"There's a lot of opportunity, but with that space being a theater, we're really open to working with anyone in the communities that have needs for the space," he said. "Because I think what's most important, is to return some sense of, you know, grounding in that, in that civic vitality that you know has always been in the Coulee."

Ben has gotten permission to salvage eight panels of mural art that have hung on the outside of the Coulee House for decades, painted by local artists, including Darlene Morava, who still lives nearby.

That's a start. And the couple were outside that old motel looking at the remains of its neon-lit sign to see how it might be saved for what in today's world could be highly prized art.

It's a changing world that sees old things in new ways.